Bavaria has agreed to “export” Munich’s famous Oktoberfest – the annual festival of beer, sausages and celebration – to China.
Bavaria’s Europe Minister Eberhard Sinner has struck an agreement with the southern Chinese industrial province of Guangzhou to hold a version of the Oktoberfest there.
Oktoberfests already takes place in other parts of Asia, including the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur and the Taiwanese capital Taipei.
In the years following World War II, German-American societies used Oktoberfests to build positive images of Germany. Today, there are literally thousands of “Oktoberfest” celebrations in North America, although not officially sanctioned like the one in Guangzhou.